On 11 January 2001, Secretary of
the
Navy Danzig announced "the Department of the Navy is changing the
status
of Cmdr. Michael S. "Spike" Speicher, the first American shot down on
17
January 1991 over land during the Persian Gulf War, from Killed in
Action/Body
Not Recovered under a Presumptive Finding of Death (KIA/PFOD) to
Missing
in Action." This unprecedented action to change a military man’s status
from a living category (POW or MIA) to dead by a legal status change,
then
reverse that action and return him to a living status of Prisoner of
War
or Missing in Action, has never before been allowed to happen by our
government!
Up until now, once a POW/MIA was removed from a living status and
declared
dead under a legal status change, the USG emphatically refused to
return
him/her to a living status no matter what. The legal ramifications of
this
action are immense. Subsequently, President Bush authorized now Capt.
Speicher’s
status to be upgraded from MIA to MIA/Captured. The official definition
of "MIA/Captured" is "if found alive, he is a Prisoner of War."

NOTE: There are 15 other men
unaccounted
for from Gulf War I. Each one was listed KIA/BNR at the time of loss or
shortly thereafter. Scott Speicher was the only one in the live
category
of Missing in Action when that war ended.

POW/MIAs - Iraqi Freedom
–
2003

23 March 2003 (Sunday) – 507th
Maintenance Company, which is attached to the 32nd Army Air Defense
Command,
Fort Bliss, TX

Members of an Army supply convoy that
was
ambushed
by Iraqi soldiers outside Nasiriya. Five confirmed captured and six
missing.
Others were killed and their remains were left – recovered by US
personnel.
One soldier (James Grubb, age 21) was wounded and evidently managed to
E&E to safety.

All Marines assigned to unit, code
named
Timber
Wolf,
listed Missing in Action after an ambush on Sunday near Nasiriya that
took
the lives of 9 other Marines. The ambush took place shortly after dawn
as the unit approached the southern edge of Nasiriya that straddles the
Euphrates River. The Marine objective was to secure the bridges and
retrieve
wounded Army soldiers from the US Army’s 507th Maintenance
Company.

The 3 Marines whose tank went off
the
bridge into
the
Euphrates River during the storm and who are believed drowned are PFC
Martinez-Flores,
SSgt. May and LCpl. O’Day.

News crew came under fire while
driving in
two
cars
towards Basra in Southern Iraq. A fourth crewmember, Daniel Demoustier,
was injured in the incident at Iman Anas, near Basabut, but was able to
get to safety. He was not able to see what happened to the other 3 men.

Both Marines were in a patrol – 4
members
of the
patrol
attempted to cross the Saddam Canal in southeastern Iraq when 2 of the
Marines disappeared under water and drowned. The other two Marines made
it across safely. The remains were later recovered.24 March 2003 (Monday) – Civilian Journalists

Matthew McAllister – Reporter for
Newsday,
Long
Island,
NYMoises Saman – Photographer for Newsday, Long
Island,
NYMolly Bingham – Reporter for Esquire Magazine,
Louisville,
KY – taken from Palestine Hotel, BaghdadJohan R. Spanner – Danish freelance photographerAll four journalists were captured and imprisoned
for a week by people from Iraq’s "Ministry of Information" before being
released on 31 March 2003 (Monday).

A single-seat F/A-18 Hornet was
downed
shortly
before
midnight and its pilot declared Missing in Action. The Navy is
providing
very few details about the loss due to probability that it was shot
down
by a Patriot missile. Another pilot in the flight reported seeing "a
flash
in the sky" near the Hornet before it disappeared.

Technically and originally listed
as
"Duty
Status
Whereabouts
Unknown (DUSTWUN)," 2 crewmen aboard an Air Force F-15E Strike Eagle
downed
by unknown causes at approximately 1930 hours EDT. The remains of Capt.
Das and Major Watkins were recovered from the crash site and
subsequently
identified.

Two foreign journalists were
seized
by at
least 5
Iraqis
– some in uniform, others in civilian clothes – while traveling with a
convoy from Nasiriya and Karbala. The journalists’ car was stopped near
the town of Hilla. The Iraqis ordered the two journalists get out of
their
car. As they did so, a second car carrying other foreign reporters
abruptly
turned around and sped away in the direction they had come. As they did
so, the Iraqis fired on them.

His
unit was conducting a river patrol on the Tigris River south of
Baghdad,
Iraq, when his squad leader fell overboard. He dove into the water
after
the squad leader and did not surface. The squad leader was rescued, but
no sign of Spc. Bates was found. Todd Bates body was subsequently
recovered,
positively identified and his status changed.

During a river patrol on the Tigris River with local police in Mosul,
four soldiers fell into the river when their boat capsized. A search
and rescue (SAR) operation was immediately initiated, but ran into
trouble of its own.

The aircrew of one of the two OH-58 Kiowa
Warrior helicopters assigned
to the SAR mission for SSgt. Bunda whose boat capsized on the Tigris
River earlier the same day. The helicopter crashed into the river
as it flew low over the river searching for the missing soldier. The
submerged wreckage of the aircraft was found and examined by military
divers. They did not find the bodies of either pilot in the aircraft.

Independent contractor originally “detained by Iraqi police at a
checkpoint in Mosul on suspicion of possible involvement in illegal or
terrorist activities.” Three days after his body was found near a
highway overpass in Baghdad, a video of his execution was aired on
television.

9 April 2004 (Friday) – 724th
Transportation Company, Bartonville, IL

DUSTWUN – Sgt. Elmer C. Krause, USA, Greensboro, NC, age 40KIA/BR –
Remains Recovered and Identified 2004
DUSTWUN – PFC Keith M. “Matt” Maupin, USA, Batavia, OH, age 20
Confirmed as POW when a video tape showing him in
captivity was aired to the world on television.Reportedly Executed with a bullet to the
back
of the head. A dark and grainy video tape was aired on Al-Jazeera
television 28 June 2004, but the quality of the tape was not good
enough to confirm the identity of the man being murdered.
The 2-man crew of supply truck who disappeared when they were ambushed
by individuals using rocket propelled grenades (RPGs) and small arms.
The truck set ablaze on the road leading away from the Baghdad Airport
after it was looted and the supplies carried away from the truck while
Iraqi police watched, but did not intervene. 9 April 2004 (Friday) –
Kellogg, Brown & Root Corporation, division
of Halliburton Company, Houston, TX

POW - Thomas “Tommy” Hammill, Macon, MS, age 44
Escaped - 2 May 2004 from a farmhouse approximately
50 miles north of Baghdad
MIA - Thomas E. “Tom” Bell, Mobile, AL, age 44
MIA - William “Bill” Bradley, Chesterfield, NH, age 50
POW – Bulent Yanik, Turkey, age 35
Released near Fallujah, 40 miles West of Baghdad on
17 June 2004
POW – Victor Tawfiq Jerges, Egypt, age 45
Released near Fallujah, 40 miles West of Baghdad on
17 June 2004
MIA - , Poland,
MIA - , Poland,

Truck drivers in supply convoy ambushed by individuals using rocket
propelled grenades (RPGs) and small arms. The truck set ablaze on the
road leading away from the Baghdad Airport after it was looted and the
supplies carried away from the truck while Iraqi police watched, but
did not intervene. 2 American military and 7 civilian employees
of KBR were kidnapped while militants freed 9 captive truck drivers
captured earlier.

Civilian engineer working on
Apache helicopters in Saudi Arabia where
he lived and worked for more than 10 years. Captured by Abdel
Aziz Al-Muqrin, a self proclaimed military leader of Al Qaeda.

17
June 2004, (Thursday), Gana Trading Company

POW
– Kim Sun-Il, Busan (suburb of Pusan) South
Korea, age 33

Executed
publicly
22
June 2004

A
civilian translator for a South Korean company that supplies equipment
to the US
military.
He had been in Iraq
since June 2003. Kim Sun-Il was captured near Falluja by member
of Jamat
al-Tawhid. They threatened to execute him in 24 hours if the
South Korean
government did not cancel plans to deploy 3000 troops to northern Iraq
in early August.

23 Jun 2004,
(Thursday)

POW- Names unknown at this time
3 Turkish workers were abducted by Militants loyal to Abu Musab
al-Zarqawi, threatening to behead them in 72 hours if Turkey does
not withdraw support from Iraq.

25 June 2004,
(Friday)

POW- Amjad Yousef a Pakistani worker, working for Kellogg,
Brown & Root, was captured Friday 25 June. Captors are demanding
that
prisoners be released from several detention centers, and
Pakistan close its Embassy in Iraq. The deadline is 72
hours.
27 June 2004 (Sunday), 1st
Marine Expeditionary Force, Camp
Lejeune, NC

Military
linguist/translator fluent in Arabic, French and English who was lured
away
from his post and captured by the Islamic Retaliation Movement/Armed
Resistance
Wing. Last seen alive when Al-Jazeera television broadcast a
video tape
showing him sitting blindfolded in front of his captures’ who were
holding a sword above his head as they stated their intent to kill him
unless
the United States “releases all Iraqis (being held) in occupation
jails.”

Reportedly
Executed, beheaded day of capture per news broadcast. On 5 July,
his brother
in Lebanon
was told that Cpl. Hassoun had not been killed, but had been moved to a
secure
area. On 6 July, news reports aired stating “the Marine had been
released,” but no proof to support the report was provided. On 19
July,
Cpl. Hassoun gave a news interview at Camp Lejeune,
NC stating for the record that he had
in fact
been captured and held for 19 days before being released through family
in Lebanon.
He denied that “leaving the Marine Corps” was part of the
agreement for his release.

Cpl.
Hassoun was on his second tour of duty in Iraq.

6
July 2004 (Tuesday)

POW
– Alsayeid Mohammed Alsayeid Algarabawi, Egyptian, age

Civilian
fuel tanker truck driver kidnapped by group identifying itself as
“Iraqi
Legitimate Resistance” while he was driving his fuel truck from Saudi Arabia to Iraq. The truck’s
cargo was destined
for use by US forces. A video tape only aired on al-Jazeera
television reportedly
showed the captive surrounded by armed and masked members of the group
standing
around him.